Indianapolis, Indiana

Once Kris and I drove from Illinois to North Carolina, and we stopped at the Slippery Noodle in Indianapolis.  That was my sole Indianapolis experience until this past weekend ... and we went there again!

We planned on going to Indy for the Big Ten Tournament.  It was only my second time going to the tournament, and it was my first time going to it in Indy.  I was so excited!  Then the world turned upside down, the tournament and the NCAA tournament were cancelled, and before everything really got crazy ... we decided to go anyway.  We couldn't get a refund on our house, my parents were already taking care of the boys, and we wanted to cheer up.  (Again, this was still all before it turned serious and the words 'social distancing' became a thing.  Ah, last week!  You were so young!)

We went with our great friends, Jess and Peter.  Jess is also Kris' cousin.  First, since we were bracket-deprived, we decided we would do our own bracket of breweries.  We discussed their beer as well as their ambiance, entertainment, location, games, animal presence - all of it.

Over the two days we visited (and judged) Upland Brewing Company, Fountain Square Brew Co, Indiana City, Metazoa, and Sun King.  Out of all of them, Fountain Square won us over as the best one overall - although all of them had aspects that we liked, Fountain Square had comfortable seating, dogs coming in and out so there was always some activity, a really nice guy working there, PLUS giant connect four and darts.  The darts might have been the one that really did it for me.  I haven't played darts in a long time and it was so fun!  We decided we would be Wardins (Jess and Kris) against married-ins (Peter and me.)  They killed us, and it was STILL fun!  Indiana City, Sun King, and Metazoa were our various second choices.

Friday - Day One

From our VRBO house in Fountain Square (a sort of up and coming neighborhood, not the brewery) we walked to the Fountain Square area and checked it out.  We drove downtown to see the arena we weren't going to be watching games in ... and I wondered if we would be able to park, since I didn't know what Indianapolis was like.  But since there was no tournament there was PLENTY of street parking, and we easily parked.  Some Spartan fans cheered at us when we were walking by and bought us drinks.  They said we should go to the Slippery Noodle later that night to see the band The Why Store, and we thought it sounded like a great idea.  The owner of the Slippery Noodle was with them and thanked us for coming in advance.

Happily - and another reason I wanted to go - my brother Gage just happened to be staying in Indianapolis for the night!  He's an airline pilot and just pops up all over the place.  We met him and ate at The Tap, and then we went to the Slippery Noodle ($10 cover, couldn't get out of it) to see The Why Store, which we loved.  We walked Gage back to his hotel, then drove home to our VRBO.  So great to see him, if only for a few hours!

Saturday - Day Two

Saturday we drove to Eagle Creek Park to run.  They have a lovely three-mile path around a large lake, with more water on the sides.  They even had little exercises to do along the trail.  This was a beautiful spot just 15 minutes outside of the city.  Totally worth it.  We saw no eagles, but we did see lots of other giant birds, and some I couldn't even identify!  (They looked like small pelicans.  Can Indiana's birds be so different than Michigan's birds?!)

We went to the strangest - but great - breakfast restaurant.  It looked and smelled like a Mexican restaurant, but it was described as a breakfast place.  Sunshine Breakfast House & Grill.  It was fantastic!  Fusion all the way.

We wanted to go to the Indiana Medical History Museum (a place for mental disease research), but due to everything being cancelled, I called to see if it was open.  She said that they didn't open until 10 until the hour, and I couldn't reserve a spot, but the earlier I got there the better.  We waited outside the door for 10 minutes in the snow/rain, because I was bound and determined we were getting it - and it's a good thing we did!  They cap the tour at 8 people per hour, and they only have tours certain days.  (I see now they closed on March 15 due to COVID-19, so we got there for their last day of tours.)

It was really interesting to see the autopsy room, the operating theater, and see all of the old artifacts - they were all set up like people had just walked out and left them when they ran out of money, which is just what happened.

Another super interesting part of this tour was a room full of jars with people's brains and other organs in them.  Each jar had a story of the person's life and how they ended up in the mental institution.

For dinner we ate at St Elmo Steak House, which I've heard Kris talk about for a long time.  It was a fancy place with great food and a super nice server.  (How nice?  He gave me his card and I now follow him on Instagram because he grows an amazing garden.  Andy.  You can ask for him.)  Kris loves this place because of the steak, and I had some too, and it was great.  I might eat steak now.  That's how good it is.

I wanted to see the State Capitol Building and the Sailors & Soldiers Monument I'd seen from far away.

We drove up and parked right next to the Monument, and I was amazed.  I googled a lot of things about Indianapolis after our plans were dashed, and none of it prepared me for how beautiful the Monument was!  It was GIANT, it was artistic, and I loved it!  It was as moving for me as the Arc de Triomphe!  Why had I NEVER heard of it before?!

Suddenly an announcement came on that the show was starting in 10 minutes.  It was windy and cold and we all decided that we could definitely wait for 10 minutes ... we had no idea what was coming and didn't know about any show.

At 10:00 p.m., the show began, and I loved it!  All around us, on all the buildings, and on the Monument itself, there was a light show/movie/musical tribute to the people who died defending our country.  It was really moving.  I don't want to give anything away, but it ends in freedom.

Kris later said that I didn't remember years ago he climbed it with my dad ... I hadn't remembered, and I want to go back during the day and climb it too!  (You know, when this is all over.)

We went to Kilroy's, another place Kris fondly remembers from the last time he was here, and it was full of college students!  It was such a happy, joyful, St Patrick's Day atmosphere.  Someone put on Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas is You' and everyone happily sang along, trying for the high notes.

We had such a great time with Jess and Peter, too. A nice last hurrah, even if we didn't know it.

On Sunday we drove home, and on Monday Indiana closed their bars and restaurants.  If I could do it all over again ... I would have taken that extra toilet paper roll from my VRBO bathroom.

Thank you, Indianapolis, and I'll see you again another time!

New Mexico

Unfortunately, as I write this, our country is experiencing mass hysteria over coronavirus.  In an unprecedented move, everything near and dear to our hearts has been canceled.  The Big Ten Tournament, the NCAA basketball tournament, other college sports championships, high school championships ...  It is pure insanity.  People are hoarding toilet paper of all things.  The only tiny bright spot I can see is that my kids can see what it's like to live in a time of mass hysteria.  I feel like someone has to take these decision-makers by the shoulders and just say, "Calm down."  But no - people just get more and more hysterical about it.

But BEFORE all of the heart-wrenching and soul-crushing cancellations ... I went to New Mexico with my wonderful friends and 14-year travel partners, Aimee and Alicia.  They are so much fun to travel with, talk with, be with - we could go anywhere and it would be fun, as evidenced by our hit or miss trip.  The hits were really hits, and the misses were really misses!

Day One -
Rattlesnake Museum
Old Town Albuquerque
Duran's Pharmacy
Boxing Bear Brewery

I flew into Albuquerque and hit up the Rattlesnake Museum in Old Town, which was more of a rattlesnake zoo.  I liked seeing the snakes, the owner was super friendly, but it turns out that your $7 just lets you look at the snakes with information ... exactly like the name of it said.  Afterward I wasn't sure what more I was hoping for.  Snakes doing tricks?  Dead snakes?  Snakes curating the museum?  You can just peek in here and say hi.

I walked around Old Town looking at the turquoise jewelry and an adobe church, and I ate at Duran's Pharmacy, which I loved.  This is where I ate my first of many burritos with green chile on my trip.  They really loved green chile here and I can see why.  I met up with my friends and we went to Boxing Bear, which had a good selection and friendly people too.

Something funny we noticed in Albuquerque and New Mexico in general.  There were so few people everywhere we went!  It's not that there are giant open spaces ... but also just walking around and going out.  This is a very uncrowded place!

Day Two -
Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument
White Sands National Park
Bosque Brewery in Las Cruces
Truth or Consequences hot springs

We stayed in a nice Airbnb house in Albuquerque, and from there we drove to Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, which was built in the 1635.  We did a quick walkthrough of the ruins - there were a total of eight other people there - and Alicia said, "I've seen older."  Ha!  It's always interesting to see ruins, but I could have skipped this one.

We drove down to White Sands, and you could see it shining like a beacon in the distance!  Suddenly, in the middle of the desert, was an improbable white sand dune oasis.  It was incredible.  The sand was so white, and it was powdery - not like sand I'm used to on a beach.

There's a North Carolinian artist named Amber Share who made national park posters based on visitors' 1-star reviews.  They are so funny, and we kept referencing them.  Her one on White Sands said 'Literally Miles of White Sand.' It is.  But I liked it.  We went on a 'hike', which was marked off by poles, but we could have walked anywhere ... it's sand.  I liked the way it looked and how it was in the middle of nothing.

We stopped in Las Cruces, home of New Mexico State University, to eat at the brewery and watch Michigan State win...not knowing it would be the last game of the season due to mass hysteria of fun-things-cancellation.  (Weep.)

We went to Truth or Consequences based on the cool name and the fact that it's known for natural hot springs.  They had a brochure of about 14 different places you could go.  We went to the first one and Alicia went in to check it out.  She came out and declared it creepy and she didn't want to go there and they didn't have any room anyway.  Hooray!  We went to the second choice - Riverbend -  just a quarter mile down the road and it was ... gorgeous.  The attendant gave us a tour before we bought a ticket and whispered the whole time, because it's a whisper zone.  There were six pools of varying temperatures, and best of all, it was right on the Rio Grande, with mountains in the background!  The attendant came around and kept refilling our water cups, the other people in the tubs whispered or talked right out loud to us, breaking the rules, and they even had a sauna.  It was $16 each, and it was totally worth it.

We were hungry, and we went to the University of New Mexico-area Frontier Restaurant.  Why there?  Because it was the only place open at 9:30 p.m. at night.  Everything else was closed - even if it said it was open!  But my green chile burrito was once again delicious.

Day three -
Sandia Peak tram
Tent Rocks National Monument
Santa Fe rooftop

Aimee and I went running in Albuquerque to the Rio Grande ... but here, it was not.  It was much like a drainage ditch, with a lot of trash alongside it.  It was not the river of the night before!

We took the tram up Sandia Mountain, and it was incredible.  The view, the ride, the elevation, the entire experience was super beautiful.

We thought maybe we'd take the tram up and then walk down, but when we asked they said, "No.  It's 10 miles, you probably would want to prepare for that, plus it's really snowy and icy."  Okay!  So noted.  Up on the top, we stood on the melty snow, climbed over a fence to get a good picture, and went to the little restaurant - because why not?  Quite the view.

We drove to Tent Rocks and this - THIS was the favorite was all of us.  The tent rocks were so impressive and so different.  The hike is a 1.5 mile that takes you to the highest point in the park.  You walk through caverns, you scramble a little, and all the time you're looking at the incredible views.  Go, go, go here! I can't say enough good things about it.

We got our Airbnb in Santa Fe and walked downtown to a rooftop bar that said it was known for its sunsets.  There was no way you could see the sunset from it - there were buildings right in the way!  We joked about it and went in where it was much warmer.  We went a few more places - even with people in them - until we walked back home.

Day four -
Santa Fe Capitol
Cathedral Basilica
Bandelier National Monument
Puye Cave Dwellings
Turquoise Trail
Musical Highway

Aimee and I ran in the morning and checked out the Capitol building.  (No one was there and we looked right in the windows and at the unusual art face in the yard, staring not out, but right into the grass.  Aimee stayed longer and told me the next day it was turned outward.  What?!)  We also walked through the Cathedral, which was definitely decorated in a southwestern style.

I should mention here that there is so, so much public art in New Mexico.  It's like people said 'Just decorate here.'  There are sculptures everywhere.  The overpasses and walls along the highway are decorated with art.  It was so fun to see it all, everywhere you go.

We ate breakfast burritos at Santafamous Street Eatz, a food truck. Oh my gosh.  It was hard to find, (note: really hard) but totally worth it.

We went to Bandelier National Monument, which is where the Pubelos lived in about 1600 AD. There were ruins, petroglyphs, and most amazingly, cave dwellings!  We went on a hike that had several ladders you could climb into cave dwellings, and then if you went to the end of the hike, a series of four ladders that took you into a really high room.  At the visitor's center, they gave us a guide that went along with numbers along the path, so we had our own tour.  This was our second favorite place, because it was so different, interesting, and beautiful!

We liked these so much that we decided to stop at Puye Cave Dwellings on the way back to Albuquerque.  They only allowed you to go by tour, the tour didn't take you into the dwellings because it was too late in the day, and there were no exceptions.  So we looked at them from the path and said ... "Looks a lot like the other ones."  Feel free to skip this.

Aimee suggested we drive on the Turquoise Trail, which was a beautiful drive that took us through lots of little, pretty towns.  I suggested we end at the Musical Highway, which was on the Turquoise Trail map we had, because I really wanted to drive over it and hear it play 'American the Beautiful.'

When we got where GPS said it was ... we drove back and forth on the highway three times.  There was no sign.  There was no music.  There was nothing.  Turns out it's not there any more.  The only evidence it ever was there was a spot on the highway that was a different color.  SKIP. 

We went back into Albuquerque to check out the nightlife.  We watched UNC play (remember when there was college basketball?!) on Aimee's phone in a Boese Brothers and I ate my last green chile burrito.  I already miss them. 

No one knows what's going to happen ... everything is crazy now ... but I hope it's all over soon so it can all get back to normal - and I can go on another trip with these girls!

Adios -